The image of a woman in english proverbs: semantic analysis

Abstract

The article deals with the English proverbs related to a woman. The aim of investigation is to analyze these proverbs from the viewpoint of their meaning. As a result of semantic analysis the authors have classified the proverbs into two groups: those devoted to the social roles of a woman – a wife, a mother, a housewife, and those describing personal traits of a female. The proverbs emphasize the necessity to create a family and the importance of a good wife for a man, though marriage is often blamed as a cause of big trouble. Most proverbs about a woman as a mother and a housewife have positive connotations while the personal characteristics of a female are mostly negative. Being for the most part the expression of men’s views, proverbs portray women as conceited, talkative, extravagant, obstinate and deceitful creatures. Intellectual abilities of a woman are presented in a way that reveals the condescending attitude to her wisdom, instinct, advice. The proverbs analyzed may be used for teaching English for special purposes, to develop pronunciation and grammar skills. Inherent generalization, popular wisdom and didactic nature of proverbs make them a strong incentive for developing students’ oral and writing skills. Thanks to their imagery, proverbs may be used to illustrate the stylistic devices of metaphor, simile, epithet, parallelism, etc. in the course of stylistics of the English language.